AMLOHELECTED: The Municipal Council at a special meeting chaired by its chief Baldev Singh Aulakh elected Ms Santosh Kumari, councillor of Ward No. 10, vice-president for a term of one year. Mr Baldev Singh Aulakh proposed her name, which was seconded by Mr Jiwan Kumar Puri, councillor of Ward No. 6. Mr N.S. Randhawa, Assistant Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib, was the observer.

SHAM-E-GHAZAL: A “Sham-e-Ghazal” will be organised by the District Cultural Society, Fatehgarh Sahib, at Gupta Marriage Palace, Mandi Gobindgarh, on Thursday. Mr Hukam Chand Bansal, chairman, O.P. Bansal Social Welfare and Educational Trust, will be the chief guest. Shamim Iqbal will be the chief artist, according to N.S. Randhawa, secretary, District Cultural Society, in a press note here on Tuesday.

AMRITSARINVITED: Dr Samir Raj, consultant urologist, Dr Prem Rai Hospital, here has been invited to train Afghan urologist in endoscopic procedures in Kabul. In a press note issued here on Monday Dr Samir Rai said he would be joining a team of American doctors who were providing sophisticated surgical equipment required for endoscopic operations.

INSTALLED: The new office-bearers of the Rotary Club, Civil Lines, were installed by Mr
G.S. Sahota, DIG, Border Range. Mr Ashwani Kalia was installed as president and Mr Vikram Uppal as secretary. Similarly, a new team for Rotary Club, Amritsar South, with Mr Surjit Sharma as president and Mr
R.S. Chawla as secretary was installed.

ELECTED: Prof Sarabjit Singh
Chhina, Head, Department of Economics and Sociology was elected member of the Khalsa College Management Committee.

DHARNA: Hundreds of CPM workers on Monday held a protest dharna against hike in electricity, water and sewerage charges in front of the office of the SDM-II. Mr Jagtar Singh
Karampura, secretary of the party, urged the state government to stop police excesses against inter-state labourers.

BATHINDASEMINAR: A seminar was organised by the local Delhi Public School
(DPS) in association with the DPS Society to invite suggestions for improving the functioning of the school to achieve academic excellence, as per a press note issued here on Tuesday by the school
management.

HOSHIARPURCONDEMNED: Mr Tikshan
Sud, BJP MLA and Mr Shiv Sud, president city unit of the BJP, on Monday condemned the decision of the Punjab Government to withdraw non practising allowance
(NPA) of Government doctors.

DUPED: A case of duping by travel agents was reported at Mahilpur police station on Sunday. In his complaint, Mohinder Singh, son of Thakur Singh of Dhamian Khurd village, alleged that he had paid Rs 2.50 lakh to travel agents Resham Dass and Surnam Singh of Kandhala Jattan and Harwinder Pal of Chandigarh for getting enrolled his son in Merchant Navy. He said the accused failed to get his son enrolled in the Merchant Navy and did not return his money.

LUDHIANA
PROTEST RALLY: The CPM (Punjab), the M CPI, the CPI (ML) Liberation and the All India Forward Block held a rally in front of the SDM’s office here on Tuesday against the indifferent attitude of the government towards the problems of the people. They protested against the levy of new taxes, elimination of resources for new employment and rise in excesses of the police force in the state. In a memorandum handed over to the local SDM, they demanded free electricity to farmers, increase in the amount of shagun scheme to Rs 11,000, free transportation for students, withdrawal of increase in sewer and water and electricity charges, etc. The rally was addressed by Mr Tarsem Jodhan, Mr Baldev Singh Lattala, Mr Mohinder Singh Achharwal, Mr Ram Sarup
Kalsian.

PHAGWARASEMINAR: The Roary Club, South East, headed by Mr O.P. Gupta, will hold a seminar on passports on Wednesday.

PHILLAURPOWER FAILURE: Residents of Railway Road, Rajpura Mohalla, Mohalla Bhandera, Main Bazar and Chowk Naian have been without power since Saturday night due to a faulty transformer.

SAMRALADONATION: A draft for Rs 20,000 was handed over to the local SDM, Mr
J.S. Jassi, by the local Ahrtia Association through its president, Mr Harpal Singh Dhillon, here on Tuesday. The amount would be sent to CM’s Relief Fund, said Mr Dhillon.

MEETING: In his first meeting with the mediapersons at Samrala Press Club here on Tuesday, the new DSP, Mr Jasbir Singh, urged the media and public to cooperate with the police. He assured that no police excesses would be tolerated and asked the public to discourage the practice of giving bribe to officials.

PROBE
SOUGHT: Mr Kuldeep Khullar, press secretary of the Khatri Sabha Punjab, has demanded a vigilance inquiry into the appearance of cracks in the newly constructed building of the Civil Hospital. Mr Khullar brought this to the notice of the MP, Mr S.S. Dullo, who paid a visit to the hospital to attend a vanmahotsava function here on Tuesday. Mr Khullar said the old building constructed by the hospital society 15 years ago was still in good condition but the new building built by a contractor of the Health Corporation had developed cracks.

CHANDIGARH

CONTEST ORGANISED: Students of Mount Carmel school participated in slogan-writing and chart-making contest here on Tuesday. The contests were held to observe July as water conservation month keeping in mind the appeal made by the Prime Minister in this regard. Prof S.P. Khullar, a former head of the Department of Botany, Panjab University, spoke on water conservation he said the ever-increasing population was the root cause of all problems. A sapling plantation programme was also held. The programme concluded with awarding of certificates of appreciation to the winners of the contests. The winners were: senior group I — Arshdeep Singh (IX-A) 1, Amar Gurung (X-B) 2, Navdeep Kaur (IX-C) 3; senior group II — Vipin Dhiman (VIII-A) 1, Abhishek Bohat (VIII-A) 2, Anju Negi (VIII-B) 3; junior group: Kritika (V-C) 1, Baljit Singh (VI-B) 2, Jasleen Kaur (VI-B) 3.

CELEBRATIONS: The Department of Hindi, Panjab University, under the aegis of the Hindi Sahitya Parishad, will celebrate Munshi Premchand Jayanti on Thursday, a press note said on Tuesday. A panel discussion will also be held.

ELECTED: Mr B.S. Bindra has been elected president of the Sector 27-D Welfare Committee, while Mr Gian Chand Sharma was elected vice-president. They along with the other office-bearers, were elected for a two-year term. Mr Parveen Mittal was chosen the general secretary. Mr Gurdeep Singh is the new joint secretary, while Mr Amardeep Singh Sehal is the cashier. Mr Gian Singh Chawla has been elected the auditor.

BLOOD DONATION : More than 70 persons donated blood at a camp organised by the Department of Blood Transfusion Medicine, PGI, at the Punjab Civil Secretariat, here on Tuesday. The Chief Secretary, Mr Rajan Kashyap, inaugurated the camp. He said efforts should be made to have maximum possible voluntary blood donations, for which NGO’s and social organisations need to play a major role. He said maximum possible blood donation camps should be held so that there is no death for want of blood. Mr Kashyap, a regular donor, donated blood for the 28th time. Apart from this his son and Mr R.C. Nayyar, Secretary, Lok Pal, also donated blood.

HARYANA

AMBALARAID ON HOSPITAL: The Chief Minister’s flying squad conducted a raid on the Civil Hospital at Ambala Cantonment on Tuesday morning. It checked the attendance register and found two doctors and a para-medical official absent. The raid was conducted under the supervision of DSP Phool Kumar. The medicine store of the hospital was also
checked. The SMO of the hospital could not be contacted for comments.

MAN KILLED: A road accident here on Tuesday claimed a life. Om Prakash, a resident of Ram Nagar Ambala City, was crossing the Agarsen bridge on his bicycle when a private bus hit him. He was rushed to the local Civil Hospital where he died after about 30 minutes. Relatives of the deceased have demanded the arrest of the bus driver. A case has been registered. The body was handed over to deceased’s relatives after a post-mortem examination.

QUOTA
FOR JATS: The Haryana Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti convener, Mr Tara Chand
Mor, on Tuesday said Jats should unite to get reservation in jobs. He said “Delhi and Rajasthan Jats got reservation in jobs four years back, but Jats in Haryana have not got this benefit so far.” He also criticised the Chautala government on the SYL canal issue. He said Mr Chautala could have sorted out the issue when Mr Parkash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister of Punjab. He said the government had failed to provide jobs to the youth.

WAGES NOT PAID: Resentment prevails among labourers employed by the Forest Department under the Water Shed Scheme over the non-payment of wages for the past five months. The labourers, workers and tractor owners have threatened to stage a dharna if the payments were not released soon.

SIRSAATTACKED: Certain persons recently attacked the family of Bhup Singh at Brij Bhangu village with
sharp edged weapons, according to information received on Tuesday. Bhup Singh, his wife
Gauran, son Chanderbhan and his wife Rajbala were injured. A family feud was stated to be the reason behind the incident.

HIMACHAL PRADESH

HAMIRPURFOUR ARRESTED: The Hamirpur police has arrested four persons of Dabreha village for purchasing government cement from a truck owner on Sunday. Those arrested have been identified as Ramesh, Jagan Nath, Dharam Chand and Sarv Dyal. They have been booked under Section 411 of the IPC.

KUMARHATTIPENSIONERS UNHAPPY: The Solan District Pensioners Association has expressed dismay over the state government’s dilly-dallying approach in accepting their demands . The additional instalment of dearness relief which had become due in January 2003, had not been released, stated a press statement issued here on Monday by Mr C.L. Rajput, general secretary of association. The reimbursement of medical bills was pending for more than a year, said Mr Rajput.

NURPURSUICIDE: Salamat Bibi (42) of Raja Ka Talab near here reportedly committed suicide by consuming poison. She was working in the primary health centre at Bharmar. She was suffering with some kidney problem and depression.

PARWANOOERRATIC SUPPLY: Residents of this town had been facing inconvenience due to erratic power supply for the past 10 days. They said the problem was aggravating day by day. Power supply is more erratic in Sector 6 as compared to other sectors of the town”, they said.

MARKET REMAINS CLOSED: The local grain market remained closed here on Monday due to sudden death of Subash Thakur, an employee of Shimla Goods Transport. The local transporters held a condolence meeting. According to Mr Deshraj, president of the Beopar Mandal, Subash Thakur (49) died of heart attack. “The body has been sent to his village at Kangra”, he said.